Guardian
by amashies
Summary: They are chosen by the goddess Etro herself to protect the heir of their throne; a warrior that can easily shatter his cool façade and make him forget that he is supposed to act like a prince.


This is why sometimes I take ages to update my stories, I get myself into a new fandom every week. Let me introduce myself. Hello, I'm Gi, I recently decided to join the Final Fantasy fandom and I don't know anything about it. There are only like twenty characters that I can relate their names to their faces, and they will probably be portrayed slightly (if not completely) OOC because of my lack of knowledge. But I'm trying, ok? Also I like playing with the characters; if you read the "Animals" chapter in my Zelda collection "The 2nd Law" you know what I'm talking about.

And since this is my first one-shot about FF, I decided to go with a Semi AU.

I hope you enjoy it and your reviews are greatly appreciated~!

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**::**

**Guardian**

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**::**

He shut his eyes tight briefly, shaking his head to clear his mind. The prince was worn out, tired from fighting countless intruders in such a short span of time. His father was nowhere to be found at the moment, probably inside their castle fending off the enemies there, and his friends were just too far to help him now. Besides, he wanted to end this alone, though he knew his chances of surviving were slim.

The captain of the enemy guard lied a few yards away from him, already trying to stand up after their earlier collision, which caused both men to fly backwards and hit the hard ground with a painful, loud crash. Both were badly bruised, clothes tainted in blood, skin and hair dirty. Noctis spit blood and glared at the small pool of his own blood forming before his eyes – he really needed to train more, he needed to control his powers properly.

Just as he was about to grab his weapon, a white feather gently landed on the crimson pool, drenching instantly in it. The glare left his face, being replaced by a frown as he noticed more feathers slowly floating in the air. He looked around, blue eyes scanning the area around him just to find that the feathers were fluttering about the whole arena and that nobody else seemed to notice them. And then a bright light shone where the captain was standing, and Noctis turned his head in his direction at the same time the sound of a blade slicing through flesh reverberated in his ears.

His eyes widened slightly at the sight before him. His enemy coughed up blood, the liquid trailing down his chin and gushing out from his stomach where a blade was deeply buried. The owner of the blade, for what he could see through his slight blurry vision, was dressed in a silver armor detailed in gold, and white feathers cascaded down the side of the person's left leg, resembling some sort of cape. What caught his attention, though, was the long, pale pink hair that that flowed freely when the person hastily pulled back their sword and let the corpse fall to the ground.

So it appeared to be a young woman who wasn't afraid to make eye contact.

Noctis slowly rose to his feet and walked in her direction before an explosion got both of their attentions, making both prince and stranger turn their heads towards the sound. The dark haired man then turned his head back towards the woman just to find out that she was gone. He frowned slightly; even the feathers had disappeared.

**::**

**::**

"Prince Noctis, you've been spacing out quite a lot recently." Said prince snapped his head up and away from his fist, only to frown at his friend and his incessant formalities. "Did you hear anything that I just said?" Noctis sat properly on his throne and tapped his fingertips on his thighs. He didn't need to answer his friend's question; Ignis knew more than anyone else that he wasn't paying attention.

It had been two months since the war was over, two months since he saw the stranger. He was curious; she was mysterious, she disappeared as suddenly as she came, she killed the man that would kill him if he made any wrong move. And what was more surprising was the fact that no one else saw her, or the bright light, or the white feathers that fell from the clouds before and during her appearance.

His friends doubted him when he told them about the girl – Prompto even suggested that Noctis might have bumped his head somewhere and that he was seeing things. His first argument was that it was completely impossible for someone from his kingdom to have pink hair – the majority of people had dark colored hair, and few people stood out with blond colored locks. Prompto joked, asking the dark haired prince if he heard a choir singing in the background, and he even suggested that the prince should seek a doctor and get his head examined, which earned him a glare and slap on the back of his head.

"I heard everything." He lied anyway, closing his eyes and sighing. He was just confused about it all; if he was the only one who saw her, then was he really going crazy? Noctis didn't think so. "Excuse me, there's something I need to do." Standing up from his throne, the prince calmly made his way to the double doors and silently closed them behind his back.

Walking through the well adorned corridors of his castle, it took him some minutes to reach the library despite the fast pace of his feet. Inside, he was content to see that the books he had left on the table on the previous night were untouched, meaning that he wouldn't need to waste his time trying to find them again. Sitting on a cushioned chair by the windows, the young man scanned the pages searching for something, anything that would confirm the existence of his mysterious savior. He had been searching for three days now and so far he hadn't found anything helpful.

Time passed and Noctis was almost dozing off with his cheek perched up on his fist when the chair beside his moved, and he opened his eyes to see his father studying the books sprawled on the table. "You've been here for four hours now." The king commented before he took a seat beside his son. "What is it that you're trying to find?"

In his mind, Noctis wondered if it would be wise to tell his father about what he saw back at that day two months ago on the battlefield; he wondered if he would think of it as something fascinating, or if he would brush it off and say he was just seeing things, or even imply that he was indeed going crazy. But the young prince guessed that he could give it a try. His father was older, wiser; he would know what to say. Besides, he was too desperate to confirm her existence.

"Did you, by any chance," he took a deep breath and avoided his father's gaze, "see anything weird during the last battle?"

His father leaned back on his chair, keeping his eyes focused on his son although he flipped through the pages of a book. "Like what exactly?"

Running a hand through his spiky, dark hair, Noctis fixed his gaze on the wall across from him. "Like white feathers falling from the sky as if they were snowflakes."

The king snapped the book in his hands shut with a loud snap, causing his son to straighten his back. Their eyes met and he could_ feel _that his only son was uncomfortable talking about the subject. "I did." Noctis' eyes widened, a renewed sparkle shining in the depths of his dark blue irises; there still was hope. "I was wondering if you saw that too."

Noctis clearly tried to hide his excitement by leaning back on his seat and trying to keep his face as void of emotion as possible, although it did little to hide the delighted shine in his eyes. "Do you know what that was?"

"You won't find it in any books, son." His father replied as he placed the book on top of the pile. "Nobody believes in their existence. And only the Caelum can see them."

"So there's more than one?"

The elder man shook his head negatively and cleared his throat. "No, there's only one at a time. They are chosen by the goddess Etro herself to protect the heir of our throne. They follow your steps like a shadow and only make appearances when extremely necessary." His son stopped acting cool and seemed to be too interested in this; he was even leaning forward now. "They are called Guardians. But don't think of them as some type of guardian angel, they aren't that. Guardians are more like warriors than anything else."

"Did you see your Guardian, father, when you were younger?"

"No, I didn't. My father did, though." The king averted his gaze, fixing it on a painting on the wall. "He said he was dressed in a silver armor and that white feathers swept from his shoulders like a cape."

Noctis nodded in agreement and a small smile tugged at the corner of his lips. "She was dressed like that, except for the feathers were beside her left leg."

"So it's a girl. Those are a rare sight." His father smirked slightly. "She saved your life. If she hadn't appeared, you wouldn't be here now."

"She's real." The prince whispered, smiling stupidly to himself, heart quickening its pace. "She really is real."

His father stood from his seat with a chuckle and patted his son on the shoulder; it had been quite a long time since he last saw his son that excited about something. "Whenever you see white feathers, she's around."

**::**

**::**

Days passed and Noctis hadn't seen a trace of the Guardian. Sometimes, he would see a feather here and there, but the woman was nowhere in sight. He guessed that she would be able to sense real danger, so asking one of his guards to feign killing him was out of question – and besides that, he didn't want to appear even crazier before his friends. But he was growing tired, restless even, because he felt like his brain was playing tricks on him. What if the conversation he shared with his father in the library was just a dream? After all, he was almost dozing off before his father arrived.

And now, Noctis felt a little embarrassed for what he did on the previous night. He left his chambers in the middle of the night and headed to the castle training grounds, the place where he had seen more feathers laying about so far. At that time, when he placed the invitation in the middle of the arena, the room was sparkling clean, and in the morning after, few traces of white lingered in the corners, some disappearing before his eyes, the invitation long gone. The prince knew there was the possibility that someone else found it, but he couldn't help but hope that his warrior found it – and hopefully, accepted it.

Look at what a single mysterious woman was doing to him. He clearly wasn't himself anymore.

The celebration wasn't too boring, nor was it too exciting. Wealthy people were dressed in formal attire, chatting in small groups and few dared to dance. Noctis on his part continuously tugged at the collar of his shirt and groaned under his breath whenever he could; he didn't like wearing suits, he didn't like big, formal parties. The young prince was mingling around with his father, due to being the son of the host and one of the most important men in the world, until he was formally dismissed and left to find his friends among all the guests. He found the other three young men and only managed reached them seconds after the only blond in the group skipped away.

"Where is he going?" Noctis asked his other two friends as he kept his eyes focused on the retreating man's back.

"Prompto is going to ask that girl over there if her hair color is natural or not." Gladiolus replied with a slight shake of his head.

That was when Noctis spotted the girl for the first time that night. He didn't remember seeing her around when he and his father welcomed the guests and it was difficult not to see her there. How did he miss her? Her white cocktail dress stood out among dark and sober colors, and the shine of her exotic pale pink hair made his heartbeat quicken. The young prince found it hard to breathe, even to stand straight without visibly shaking – his warrior came, she accepted his invitation!

He watched from afar as the young woman and his friend interacted. She touched the ends of her hair when he bluntly asked her about it, and nodded her head to confirm his theory. Prompto then said something else, to which she replied with a polite smile as she gave him her empty flute of wine. The blond man hurriedly walked back to the small group, whispered a quick "it's natural" before he walked away to fetch another drink for her.

Noctis' heart pounded in his rib cage and he later found himself walking towards the girl, not really caring if he seemed as desperate as he felt inside. Just like the first time, he was close to her, and just like last time, he didn't reach her.

"Noctis!"

Said man stiffened and took a step back so he could look at the blonde girl that oh so suddenly decided to block his path. "Stella." He greeted back with a quick and shallow nod of his head, voice slightly urgent. Shifting his gaze between the talking blonde and his most special guest that now thanked Prompto for getting her another drink, Noctis couldn't help but feel slightly jealous – he invited her, he was the one who was dying to meet her, not Prompto. Why did he have to be the one who talked to her first?

It didn't take too long until the mysterious woman walked through the doors that led to the garden; the prince's frustration was so obvious that the young blonde woman stopped talking to ask him if he was feeling well. Noctis opened his mouth to reply when a sudden gust of wind blew through the open doors and windows, ruining elegant up-dos and perfectly ironed clothes, carrying inside a ton of white feathers that went unnoticed by everyone except two people in the ballroom.

Noctis found his father's gaze and he nodded once – it was confirmed, she really was his Guardian.

**::**

**::**

"So if the both of you are here..." Prompto started as he shifted his gaze between his good friend and the young woman who kept a respectful distance from him, although she was _dying_ to latch onto his arm – everyone could see it.

Stella met Prompto's confused eyes and frowned. "What about us?"

Ignis took a stepped forward and bowed slightly so he could look at the young prince in the eyes. "There's someone in the music room playing the piano, Prince Noctis." Raising an eyebrow, he added, "It is only _natural_ that the crown prince check it out... By himself."

Noctis' eyes widened in the slightest before returning to their usual shape. Standing from his seat, he excused himself and left the ballroom quite in a hurry, fingers working on the tie around his neck. By the time he reached the end of the hallway and turned left, the black accessory had already slipped from his shoulders and fallen to the carpeted floor, lying forgotten as its owner picked up his pace. Going from a fast walk to a jog, the dark haired man cursed the length of the countless hallways of his castle that never once before bothered him – until now.

His friends knew that the only three people who knew how to play the piano were his father, Stella and himself, and if the three of them were attending to the party, it meant someone else had sneaked away from the ballroom and successfully found their way to the music room without being seen by any guards. And the only person that could do that, in his opinion, was his guardian that seemed to warp anywhere she wanted, whenever she pleased.

Stopping before double oak doors, carved so elegantly, the young prince listened to the melody for about a minute while he regained his breath and tried to relax his muscles and mind. Knowing that he would never ease the tension in his shoulders and back completely, Noctis took a deep breath before he turned the knob and opened the door, striding inside with his head held high. Once the door was closed, he expected the mysterious woman to stop playing and turn around, but she didn't; instead, she picked up her pace, seeming oblivious to his presence. Noctis approached her calmly, taking quiet steps in her direction, hands clasped behind his back and expression cool and collected, hiding the turmoil in his head.

Once he was standing behind her, he took two steps to the right and leaned forward, trying to steal a quick glimpse of her face. "Impressive."

His guardian abruptly stopped playing and turned around to fully face him, an eyebrow arched upwards and a teasing smirk on her light pink tinted lips. "The real impressive thing here is your ability to greet every one of your guests without exception."

Noctis chuckled at her comment while he straightened his back, keeping a respectful distance between their faces. "You know I didn't do that on purpose."

The pink haired beauty closed her eyes briefly – a shade of blue he had never seen before, so bright and crystalline – and turned her head away slightly. "I believe there isn't anything I don't know about you."

"Is that so?" He raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms over his chest.

She nodded. "I may have been around for few years, but I do know everything that happened in your whole life." Opening her eyes, she let her gaze meet his own, a mischievous glint in them. "Like that one time when Prompto hid in your closet and scared you after you and your friends watched a horror movie."

Noctis was surprised, but he hid it well; that indeed happened. "You talked to Prompto tonight," he stated simply, "how will I know he didn't tell you that at the ballroom?"

Shrugging her shoulders and crossing her legs, his guardian turned away again and watched him from the corner of her eyes. "I know that sometimes you doze off while taking a shower and that whenever you sleep while laying on your back you have nightmares."

Now he believed her. Trying to cover up his own embarrassment, the young prince tried to make her uncomfortable. He shifted his weight to his other leg and arched his eyebrow again, "So you watch me when I bathe," he stated bluntly.

To his frustration, she didn't show any other emotion – not even a light blush crept on her cheeks! – and her eyes kept their amused and teasing glint, as if daring him to embarrass himself more. "I don't need to watch you to know where you are and how you feel."

"How do I feel now?" He asked, trying to test her abilities further.

Facing him fully again, his warrior stood from her seat and even with high heels, she was two inches shorter than him. "You are shocked and impressed that I indeed know what happened in your life so far. You are also curious to know what my other abilities are, if I really am strong for someone that is almost frail looking in this dress." She stopped, narrowing her eyes into slits. "I can assure you that I'm stronger than you think."

Noctis examined her face with a slight frown on his own. "I didn't expect you to accept my invitation."

"At first, I wasn't planning on coming." She said as she placed her hand on her hips and cocked them to the left. "But some circumstances forced me to. I don't enjoy dressing up and I avoid doing so whenever I can."

He smiled then, glad that she was opening up to him so easily. "We have something in common, then. I, too, hate having to... Dress up."

The corners of her lips tilted up almost imperceptibly, "I could feel your relief when you loosened up your tie." Her smile vanished then, being replaced by a thin line and serious eyes. "Don't get used to it. The first impression doesn't always count most and I feel like being nice tonight."

"Isn't there supposed to be white feathers magically falling from the sky? Aren't we, the Caelum, the only ones supposed to see you?" Noctis asked, just as curious as a child exploring their backyard.

Her blue eyes looked up at the ceiling as she spoke. "They only appear when I wear my combat armor," her gaze fell on his face again, "and you are the only ones who see me when I'm wearing it. When I wear anything else, I can be seen by anyone."

"Can I see it?" He asked immediately, cheeks heating up after he realized what he just said. _'Ah, stupid Noctis,'_ he chided himself mentally, _'you are sounding like a little kid!'_

A smirk glued itself on her lips as she turned and walked towards the open windows, body engulfing in a bright light as her dress seemingly evaporated from her body, being replaced by the shiny, silver and golden armor he saw her wearing the first day they met. And as expected, white feathers slowly fluttered in the air, and few even clung to their hair. The Guardian turned around and studied the young prince with emotionless, calculating eyes; Noctis had a feeling that that was her usual expression – serious, almost void of emotion – and the one he would be seeing most, instead of that teasing smirk and glint in her eyes.

"You are nervous, Caelum." Her voice was much less softer and playful than it was before; this was her real self. Her words ringed in his ears, _'the first impression doesn't always count most and I feel like being nice tonight.'_ "I can hear your heartbeat; it is as fast as a hummingbird's."

The dark haired man looked at anywhere but her eyes. It was already bad that he was a naturally shy person who had to hide away his true emotions; now she was able to constantly make him feel on the edge, and she embarrassed him and made Noctis embarrass himself – he could feel the tips of his ears getting hotter as he remembered. His whole life he managed to look cool and collected whenever he wanted, whenever he needed, and now this woman managed to make him feel like a little child in less than five minutes. Where did his cool façade go? What did she do to break his mask so easily like that? Since he met her he had been acting differently, Noctis sometimes even forgot he had to act like the prince he was.

Finally, he met her indifferent, but strong gaze. "I want to know more about you." He said once he managed to pull out a straight face. "What's your name? When will we meet again?"

Slowly, the warrior tilted her head to the side and examined his expression. She then closed the gap between them, surprisingly moving with grace and in silence, even though her armor seemed to weigh quite a lot. Lowering herself in one knee before him, the woman gently took his hand in hers and brought it close to her face, bowing her head so her forehead was softly grazing his knuckles. The action caught him off of guard, but Noctis neither stiffened nor pulled his hand away. Instead, he watched her through half lidded eyes as she showed him respect and devotion by such a simple gesture.

Rising to her feet, she graced him with one of her smiles that he knew they would be a rare sight to see from that day on and turned around to walk away, only stopping once she was close to the windows. Lifting her feet one at a time to stand on the windowsill, she turned around briefly to say, "Lightning", then turned abruptly away and jumped out the window without another word.

Another strong gust of wind and more feathers scattered about, messing his already unruly hair and clinging to his clothes. He felt another smile pull his lips up – look at what she did to him, he was smiling stupidly _again_!

Noctis touched the keys of the piano and smiled to himself. Lightning, as strong and fast as the natural phenomenon, it disappeared just as quickly as it came. She was just as beautiful as a real lightning, too.


End file.
